Wednesday, June 3, 2015

there ain't no easy way out





I tell people that I win more battles today because I am better at picking my fights.  That old Kenny Rogers’ line about “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em “ applies to many decisions in life other than cards.  And with life being a daily battle for most, when it becomes too overwhelming turn to drugs or alcohol.  Which only makes the situation worse.  Never will you hear “I was a total failure and then started smoking pot.  Today I am a success.”  Rather I deal with many whose families have been ruined by alcohol and drug abuse.  Prisons are filled with nice people who under the influence did things they normally would not have done.  And they and their families pay the price, sometimes for decades.  There ain’t no easy way out, yet many look for it in things, something that can ease the pain.  Or prolong the inevitable.  Something to show an escape route, so desperate that they will try anything.  And when the escape escapes them, some will finally take their own life.  Brave or chicken not for me to decide, but those that are left behind suffer.  Close the wound and hide the scar, but the pain remains.  Many ask what does love have to do with it, I can tell you from experience that love has everything to do with it.
While we may have to screw up, to obtain mercy, that is one of the qualifications, God’s grace is readily available, does not depend on us, and is in action without us even knowing it.  Saved or unsaved, God’s grace is there.  But we tend to think of grace as for us, a personal gift from a loving God who sent Jesus to save us, but many times he uses us to pass his grace through to others.  We get to be a part of the grace he has for others, just because he loves us, not because we have the abilities, or even availabilities.  It is coming up on 3 years since my open heart surgery, where God has performed many a miracle in the fact I am not dead, but alive.  No one else in medical history had what I did, and a loving God and his grace got me through it to share with others.  But in it I saw a whole new side to grace, and found my thoughts of grace were selfish, all about me, with a thanks to God.  Sometimes.  But grace was about to be even more amazing than the song we sing...
A few weeks after release from the nursing home for rehab, I asked God “why didn’t you take me home?”  I had been described as the sickest person they had ever seen who wasn’t dead, and as close to death as you can come without dying.  His words were  not what I expected.  “So that your wife is not a widow, and your sons are not orphans.”  Suddenly grace wasn’t all about me, and I was glad it wasn’t.  But God wasn’t done, although I was happy with his answer.  When he knew I was ready, he took me to the next step.  We had all had a particularly bad year, from a house fire to my dad dying, to Andrew’s serious motocross crash, and God took me deeper.  “I showed grace so you could see how well your sons were doing.”  Things had changed and everyone was working, recovering, and enjoying life.  A full 180 from where we had been.  Yes, grace is a good thing, I will agree with God.  It was for me, but again not all about me.
Finally he showed me an even better way, and how selfish I had been.  Not knowing how selfish, but being shown in a loving way.  “I showed you grace so that your sons could see you seeing them successful.”  True to form, when God gets the glory, the blessings flow, but grace needs no conditions, just as God’s love for us doesn’t.  And as much as I look forward to heaven, I am glad I was saved from death to see my sons successful.  And them see me see them, and still around today.  After what I went through death would have been the easy way out for me.  It is tougher to be earthbound after seeing heaven, and I have just like the scripture tells us, there is no way to describe it other than “I want to go back.”  But God’s ways are different, and being here for my family has shown me grace, some so amazing I cannot find words.  Only an infinite God can love like that, and no finite words can describe him.  There ain’t no easy way out...yet there is.  His name is Jesus.
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding.  Yet we try to figure things out, pick which battles to fight, and only consult God when all else fails.  The saddest words spoken in hospitals are “we have tried everything else, I guess it’s time to pray.”  Fortunately grace doesn’t wait for an invitation.  It is at work in us right now, some see it, some don’t, some others deny it.  But God’s love for you is so great he gave his son, and if he gave the most precious thing he ever had, imagine what else he can do for you.  When my aorta exploded, all hope was lost, but yet Dr. Walsinsky didn’t panic, later telling me “it is obvious that God intervened.”  When every doctor or nurse gave me up for dead, Jesus didn’t.  His work in me wasn’t finished, and yours isn’t either.  Until the day we face him in that amazing grace that has no words, we can experience it here on earth.  Jesus told his disciples to pray “on earth as it is in heaven,”  where I will have a perfect heart and no plastic aorta.  All sin washed away, no scars, yet the wounds Jesus bore for us will be evident.  He bore our iniquities, he took the beating.  He paid the price.  He showed us grace.  Amazing.
Jesus is the easy way out for us.  Turn to him today in your situation and find grace.  Not what you would expect, you get even more.  It is true life is a battlefield, but we will win the war.  Death is defeated.  Sin is conquered along with its wages.  Yet the battles continue daily, and we won’t win them all.  Grace changes that, for all things work for good, yet only those in Christ see it.  Coming to Christ opens the door to see, he is the easy way out, and will take us through the battles.  Some tough, some unwinnable, but somehow we prosper in his grace.  So don’t contain the grace God has for you, don’t limit Christ in your life.  Don’t wait until all else fails to call Jesus, the fact you are reading this this far shows God’s grace to you.  He wants to make it personal, will you let him?
My nine inch scar on my chest shows where Jesus held my heart and saved my life.  But in no way compare to the nine inch nails driven into his hands and feet.  Death is our final reward in Christ.  Staying here and serving him is tough at times.  And when there ain’t no easy way out, remember that.  Before you need to.  His grace is sufficient, and to me will always be amazing.  So easy a sinner can do it.  And you say....
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com